InvestOps Europe key takeaways: Building the infrastructure for private markets’ next phase

Recap and analysis from InvestOps Europe 2026 in September 2026, prepared by Canoe’s Head of Institutional Investors – EMEA, Frances Brian.

Private markets have changed dramatically over the last decade. Allocations and the investor base have exploded and the range of assets entering portfolios has diversified. Yet while investment strategies have evolved rapidly, the infrastructure supporting them has not always kept pace.

At InvestOps in London, that tension surfaced in conversations repeatedly. Across discussions on portfolio construction, operations, data and AI, many delegates were ultimately grappling with the same challenge: how can firms support growing private market exposure without adding ever more complexity?

To us, three themes stood out:

• Investors are increasingly taking a total portfolio view, creating demand for better visibility across public and private assets; 
• The industry’s ambitions are outpacing its infrastructure, with data fragmentation continuing to limit scalability and transparency; 
• AI is moving from theory to practice, with firms focused on practical applications that can improve efficiency and support growth.

Investors want a total portfolio view

One of the more interesting discussions throughout the event centred on the growing gap between how investors think about portfolios versus how many firms still organise their operations.

At the portfolio level, investors are increasingly looking beyond the traditional separation between public and private markets. CIOs are focused on understanding total exposures, risks and cash flows across an entire portfolio, rather than viewing each asset class in isolation. The aim is a clearer picture of how everything works together.

The challenge, though, is that portfolios may be becoming more integrated just as the underlying assets become more diverse.

Public markets benefit from established standards around pricing, reporting and identifiers, while private markets typically have less consistent approaches across managers and asset classes. Data arrives at different times, in different formats, and often with varying levels of detail. 

Hence, many speakers drew a distinction between convergence and integration. The frequently cited goal is to create a consistent portfolio view while recognising that different asset classes will continue to require different expertise, data sets and operating models.

Ambition is running ahead of infrastructure

If the first theme is about where investors want to get to, the second is about what stands in the way. Private market assets under management are projected to reach $26.3 trillion by 2030, according to BCG, while the composition of portfolios is changing faster than the operating models and technology supporting them.

This presents an increasing operational challenge, as private market information is spread across managers, documents and systems, with differences in identifiers, valuations and timeliness. Public market data can be close to real time, while private asset data can lag by weeks or months. That may be manageable at a smaller scale, but as allocations grow, simply adding people to manual processes is not a scalable model. Greater retail access could add further pressure, increasing the need for repeatable processes alongside investor education, transparency and safeguards.

Fragmented data ultimately becomes an operational constraint. It makes private markets harder to scale and limits the visibility firms can give clients and senior decision-makers.

AI is growing up

No conference agenda right now could omit AI, but what stood out at InvestOps was how much the conversation has matured.

A year or two ago, many discussions focused on what AI might eventually make possible. This time, the emphasis was far more practical.

Participants spoke about extracting data from documents, processing statements, automating repetitive tasks, and helping teams handle large volumes of information more efficiently. The focus was less on transformation and more on execution.

That shift reflects a growing understanding of where AI can deliver the most immediate value. Rather than replacing specialist knowledge, it can help remove some of the manual effort that often prevents teams from applying that knowledge more effectively.

At the same time, there was broad recognition that AI is not a shortcut around poor data quality. Several conversations returned to the important point that, before firms can scale AI, they need to scale their data infrastructure. Information must be accessible, structured and reliable before any technology can generate meaningful outcomes from it.

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Laying the foundations for growth

What makes these themes most interesting is how closely they tie together. Investors increasingly want a more complete view across public and private assets. Delivering that view requires better data. And once those foundations are established, AI can help firms process information more efficiently and support more scalable operating models.

Private markets will continue to require specialist expertise, flexible processes and human judgment. The opportunity lies in removing unnecessary friction around that expertise.

So, if there is one imperative question that remains for firms, it’s whether their data, processes and infrastructure are ready to support the next phase of private markets growth.

About Canoe Intelligence
Canoe Intelligence (“Canoe”), a Bloomberg company, is the intelligence infrastructure powering how the world invests in alts. Our AI-native platform automates the manual data processing, cutting operational costs and risk while future-proofing alts infrastructure for long-term growth. Timely, accurate, and comprehensive data arms investment teams to act with the decisiveness of public markets. With Canoe, it’s all about making Alts, smarter. Learn more at canoeintelligence.com.